You are currently viewing LQ as a guest. By joining our community you will have the ability to post topics, receive our newsletter, use the advanced search, subscribe to threads and access many other special features. Registration is quick, simple and absolutely free. Join our community today!

Note that registered members see fewer ads, and ContentLink is completely disabled once you log in.

If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us. If you need to reset your password, click here.

Having a problem logging in? Please visit this page to clear all LQ-related cookies.

Introduction to Linux - A Hands on Guide

This guide was created as an overview of the Linux Operating System, geared toward new users as an exploration tour and getting started guide, with exercises at the end of each chapter.
For more advanced trainees it can be a desktop reference, and a collection of the base knowledge needed to proceed with system and network administration. This book contains many real life examples derived from the author's experience as a Linux system and network administrator, trainer and consultant. They hope these examples will help you to get a better understanding of the Linux system and that you feel encouraged to try out things on your own.

Ubuntu is a community developed, linux-based operating system that is perfect for laptops, desktops and servers. It contains all the applications you need - a web browser, presentation, document and spreadsheet software, instant messaging and much more.

Ubuntu Feisty Fawn (Version 7.04) is the most interesting release yet seen from the Ubuntu project, though not necessarily the best in every respect.

I found the installation program to be easy to use but slow and somewhat repetitive on my rather old Dell Dimension 4100 desktop system, which is several years old. I had better results on a newer Hewlett Packard D5305 desktop system. Once installed, both desktop systems ran well.

The partition management program used during installation recalculates the partition geometry if you enter intermediate information, especially if you change which disk or which partitions you want to use. Not a problem on fast systems, but it was quite noticeable and annoying on the Dell during installation.

The menus could be somewhat cleaner and better organized, but the overall appearance of the system is very good and the appearance really distinguishes Ubuntu when comparing to other desktop alternatives.

Updating the software once initially installed is very easily accomplished, and an icon on the task bar will let you know when updates are available.

Overall, a very good distribution, well worth trying out.

You can try Ubuntu simply by either ordering or creating a CD, then loading the software. When the system starts, it runs "Live" from the CD. This allows you to evaluate the software and decide whether or not you want to install it. I did install it, and the preceding notes described that installation. Being able to evaluate the software directly from the CD makes this system very easy to install - all you have to do is click on the desktop installation icon. I recommend trying it out.

hard to add sofware it's still trying to install java.doc everytime I do an add program or update

First linux distro that works java applets on firefox and kon browsers. I even went with 64 bit cpu and still only distro that worked well on java. Whatever install I had, it didn't install device manager no sound and DVD forget it. Had to go to command line to clear the conflict with add/remove software gui, when trying to install audio volume control/mixer. And restricted software for DVD was a real pain, finding that libdvdcss file drove me crazy. But all in all firefox 64 bit java works good except on yahoo. Konqueror picks up the slack.
I don't update because of that java.doc tries to install.

I recently made the decision to take on Linux as I have only worked with Windows in the past and wanted a change. I have been trying out Ubuntu for a week and have no complaints what so ever. I did a lot of reading/research on all distributions on linuxquestions.org and distrowatch.com. The amount of information and comments are almost overwhelming but very informative and helped make my decision on what distro to use. I tired Ubuntu out first by burning the iso image on a CD and using VMWare set up a virtual machine to boot off the CD. Did not have one issue with setting up either. After trying it out I have purchased a hard drive and more memory. I am now running Ubuntu on my new hard drive and can easily switch between it and my Window XP box. I do however see myself using the Ubuntu while my wife continues to use XP. Thanks for all the resourceful comments, tip and suggestions.

I had to learn how to go about doing commands but other then that I would say this system work very well. No driver problems, it runs WAY cleaner then windows does without hogging the system resources, and is in my opinion the reason to switch to a linux system in general.

Installed from "Ubuntu for Non-Geeks 2ed" which I checked out from the local library. Install it on an old 900mhz Gateway with 256m mob, 8gig hd (originally 20gig), Nec A500+ monitor, and single speed cd-rom. Worked from the start. Same machine with an earlier WinXP installation caused undo grief. This install worked even though the hdd was unpartitioned or formatted. Booting from a cd only bootup to an installed system with little intervention from me was surprising. Since I was using a cdrom (no RW) the installation took about 3+ hours. For a while there I wasn't sure that anything was happening. I had a hard time figuring out if anything was working as the install bar didn't seem to move much or all that often, but I just watched the light on the cdrom and it seemed to be read so I left everything alone and viola a system which worked from the start. Sure beats working with m$.

Still have to use command line and edit text files, Release cycle may be a bit too frequent

Ubuntu's easy to install, configure, and update. It has a good repository of easily installable software and a large community you can go to for support.

However, for being "Linux for People", I expected a lot and was disappointed when I still had to use the command line and edit text files. At that point, I was getting the Slackware experience and decided to switch back.

Being dumped to command line from easy GUI configuration tools leaves users relying on GUI tools hanging. There's nothing in between to ease you into more detailed configuration.

Ubuntu's slick, reasonably polished, and getting better, but the occasional command line configuring means it's close, but not quite there yet.